


Killing Me Softly

by heresyourchecksir (irongirl4597)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Miscommunication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-17 00:11:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11263929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irongirl4597/pseuds/heresyourchecksir
Summary: When Nursey first heard about a great singer, he had no idea what to expect. He definitely didn't expect William Poindexter to be the one on the stage, singing songs about love that Nursey himself could have written.Inspired by the song "Killing Me Softly" by the Fugees





	Killing Me Softly

Nursey should know better than to believe Nadia at this point. At least when it comes to her showing up. She always flakes out, like the time she wanted to go to a microbrewery in the basement of a frat house but texted him at the last minute saying her roommate was having a breakdown, or the time she wanted to go to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and pretend to be an exhibit but decided to go get a tattoo instead while Nursey posed for 45 minutes covered in bodypaint. It’s chill though. He always had fun, even if it was just by himself. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have expected tonight to be any different, but the thought didn’t occur to him until he got her text five minutes ago saying she wouldn’t be able to make it. He shut off his phone after sending a ‘k’ text. He didn’t need to know her excuse this time. He just sat quietly, working on his latest poem and sipping his coffee while waiting for the show to begin. He looked around the room of the coffee-shop-turned-theater. A small stage had been set up to the side, and most of the tables and chairs turned to face it. One the stage, single wooden stool sat behind a microphone stand. An acoustic guitar rested on a stand next to the stool. A guitar case leaned against the side of the stage. Nursery looked at the crowd of mostly hipsters and ‘not-hipsters’ wearing flannel who had taken up residence at the chairs and tables scattered across the room. It was a big crowd for such a small venue, and he saw several people from his poetry class scattered in the audience.

_‘I wonder why I haven’t heard about this guy before?’_ Nursey thought back to when Nadia had proposed coming tonight.

“Derek,” she’d said as they reviewed their latest poem critics together, “there’s this AMAZING singer who performs at Annie’s once a month. His stuff’s a lot like yours. You’ll like it. You should totally come with me this Thursday!”

“Is this gonna be one of those things where you say we should do this together and then you back out on me once I get there?” Nursey asked, looking up from his poem and raising an eyebrow at her.

“Of course not!” she scoffed, holding a hand to her chest and looking momentarily offended. “Plus, I’ve heard this guy before. He’s REALLY good. Please come!!” Nadia gave him a pouty face.

“Alright, fine. But if you flake out on me again you have to buy me a month of Annie’s,” Nursey said, pointing at her with the end of his pen for emphasis.

“Deal!” she said happily, clapping her hands together. Nursey agreed to go mostly to get Nadia off his back. He knew that if he hadn’t say yes she would’ve just keep pestering him about it, like the time she wanted to go to the petting zoo. He thought about turning his phone back on and reminding her of their deal, but as soon as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, the lights dimmed. People started clapping and the singer walked out on stage, making Nursey do a double take. His jaw dropped. He knew that red hair. He knew those freckles and that flannel. Nursey rubbed his eyes and blinked, making sure that he wasn’t just imagining William Poindexter walking across the stage. Dex took a seat on the stool sitting behind a microphone and dragged an acoustic guitar across his lap.

“Hey guys, thanks for being here,” he greeted, sounding nervous and humble. “I’m Will, for those of you who haven’t been here before, and I’m gonna play you some songs. This first one is a song I wrote for someone who will never hear it. Enjoy.” Dex started strumming his guitar in a quick, almost aggressive tempo.

_‘He’s pretty good,’_ Nursey thought to himself, just before Dex started singing.

 

“You’re the moon, you’re the only light I see,

Everything is covered in your glow.

You’re cool and confident

And oh so sweet.

Everyone you meet

falls for you, I know.”

 

Nursey’s heart rate skyrocketed. When Nadia said Dex’s stuff was similar to his, she wasn’t kidding. Celestial imagery? Only thing I see? Nursey tried to keep his cool as Dex moved into the next verse.

 

“You’re the moon, you’re everywhere I look.

Everybody else is looking too.

People write you songs,

And people write you poems.

Your presence feels like home

When you’re just being you.”

 

Nursey started to sweat. People write you poems? Did Dex know about his crush? Did Dex find the notebooks filled with poems dedicated to fire, freckles, and red hair? Nursey couldn’t help but feel like Dex was singing one of Nursey’s own poems to everyone in the room.

 

“Everybody notices your changes,

And everybody notices your moods,

And everybody notices you,

But none notice you

Like I do.

‘Cause none love you

Like I do.

Yeah, none love you

Like I do.”

 

Nursey could have sworn that Dex looked at him when he sang the line about noticing, but he looked away just as quickly. Maybe he didn’t see Nursey? Or maybe he did and he just doesn’t care.

 

“But you’re the moon, you’ll never notice me,

Even though I’m standing next to you.

Your cool confidence

Is something I can’t take

So I’ll just fake

I hate you, but it’s not true.

 

You’re the moon, and I love you.”

 

Dex ended with one final chord and the audience broke into applause. Nursey found himself staring up at Dex in wonder and amazement, causing him to start applauding after everyone else. Dex smiled and bowed his head in a slow nod before looking up and smiling at the crowd.

“Thank you,” he said. “Now, I’ve played this one for you guys before, and you seem to like it, so here’s Cold Notes.”

Someone in the crowd let out a whoop of appreciation right before Dex started playing. The rest of the hour long performance left Nursey in the same amazement that the first song did. If Nursey hadn’t been head over heels for Dex before, his music would have sealed the deal. By the time the final song rolled around Nursey was anxious to get out of his seat and talk to Dex. He had so many questions that only the ginger could answer. Dex finished the concert with a fast paced, happy sounding song about water. The crowd cheered and gave him a standing ovation while he did took a small bow, and then started to leave the shop while he packed up his guitar. Nursey made his way through the flow of people to the edge of the stage.

“Hey Dex,” Nursey greeted, trying to sound his usual chill and not like he was panicking on the inside. Dex startled and looked up. His look of shock quickly turned into a awkward smile.

“Hey Nursey. I thought I saw you,” he said, locking his guitar case and standing up.

“Well, you did,” Nursey chuckled. Dex smiled, just as awkwardly as before.

“So, what are you doing here?” Dex asked, trying to sound casual but falling on the side of suspicious.

“A friend of mine recommended you, but I didn’t know it was you,” Nursey assured him. He paused. “I didn’t know you could play.”

“Most people don’t.”

“Why not?”

“When I tell them I do, they ask me to play Wonderwall or Freebird.”

“Fair. Holster would be all over you for that.” Dex nodded. Another moment passed, and Nursey couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer.

“So... where do you get your inspiration?” Dex refused to meet Nursey’s eye.

“I dunno. Everywhere I guess,” Dex looked up at Nursey. “Like the last song was inspired by my uncle's boat and how it feels to be out on the ocean.”

“Alright, alright that’s chil- that makes sense,” Nursey nodded. “That first song though, I gotta ask…”

“Ask what?” Dex squinted at him suspiciously.

“Who’s the lucky girl?” Nursey asked, his heart hammering in his chest.

“What?” Dex’s face flooded with color.

“The girl you have a crush on? The one you sang that you love but she doesn’t notice you?” Nursey reminded him.

“Th-there’s no girl Nursey,” Dex insisted, rubbing his arm and not looking Nursey in the eye.

“Oh, c’mon man, you can tell me. I won’t tell anyone,” Nursey pushed, elbowing Dex gently.

“There’s no girl! Just drop it!” Dex shouted, then quieter added, “Please.”

“Alright man. I will,” Nursey assured him, clapping him on the back.

“Thank you,” Dex said, his face returning to a normal skin tone. Dex picked up his guitar and they headed out the door towards the dorms. After a few minutes of silence, Dex spoke up again.

“So, the first song… what did you think?” Dex asked timdly. Nursey’s heart rate spiked again. Why would he ask that? Does he know?

“It was… chill,” Nursey said in his moment of panic. Dex looked up at him, looking confused. “It was cute.”

_‘It’s clear that you have some major feelings for this girl,’_ Nursey thought to himself bitterly _._ Dex’s look of confusion morphed into a glare.

“If you didn’t like it, you could have just said that, Nurse. I know I’m not the best at songwriting, but I didn’t think I was that bad,” Dex said, his voice on the edge of anger.

“Bad? What are you-” Nursey said, clearly missing something.

“This is exactly why I didn’t tell anyone!”

“Woah, Dex, chill, I wasn’t-”

“You weren’t what Nurse?” Dex looked at him expectantly. Nursey found himself at a loss for words.

“I-” he started.

“Whatever,” Dex said, rolling his eyes. “I don’t need validation from you.” He turned and started storming off, leaving Nursey standing dumbfounded.

“Dex, wait!” he called after him, but Dex ignored him and kept walking.

“What the fuck just happened?” Nursey said to himself.

 

***

 

Twenty minutes later, Nursey found himself at the Haus knocking on Chowder’s bedroom door.

“Come in!” Chowder called. Nursey opened the door as Chowder spun around in his chair to face him.

“Hey C, can you help me out with something?” Nursey asked, closing the door behind him.

“Sure! What is it?” Chowder asked.

“It’s something about Dex,” Nursey said as he crossed the room and sat down on Chowder’s bed, “but you have to promise not to tell anyone else.”

“Is this about you’re gigantic crush on him?” Chowder asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What? No!” Nursey objected, crossing his arms in front of his chest protectively. “How did you know about that anyway?”

“Because you are not subtle at all. You fell down a set stairs yesterday because you were too busy looking at Dex to notice where you were going. That’s just the most recent example,” Chowder said, looking unimpressed. “Not to mention all of the poems with the words ‘red’ and ‘freckles’ I’ve seen you write in the past few months. You really should be more careful about having your notebook open during team breakfast.”

“Well, you shouldn’t look at other people’s stuff during team breakfast,” Nursey said defensively. Chowder shrugged.

“Still,” he said nonchalantly. Nursey cleared his throat and let his arms fall in his lap.

“Anyways, no, it’s not about my ‘gigantic crush’, so you gotta promise that you won’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.”

“Okay, I promise.” Chowder held up three fingers, “Scout’s honor.”

“So, Dex can play guitar,” Nursey started, picking up Chowder’s shark plushie and placing it in his lap.

“He CAN?” Chowder asked excitedly, flashing a hundred-watt smile.

“Yes, and you can’t tell anyone that I told you that. He’s trying to keep it on the downlow.”

“Why?”

“Holster. Why else?”

“Oh yeah, he’d want him to play non-stop.” Chowder’s eyes widened in horror at the thought and he shuddered. “So how do you know about it?”

“A friend of mine wanted to show me this great singer, and it turned out to be Dex. I had no idea. Anyway, he played this song tonight that was clearly about some girl he’s pining over. He compared her to the moon and said he loved her but she’d never notice him. After the concert I asked him about it, but he wouldn’t tell me who she is. Then he asked me if I liked the song, got mad, and then stormed off,” Nursey finished the story. Chowder gave him a calculating look before speaking up again.

“Well, did you?” he asked.

“Did I what?” Nursey asked back.

“Like the song?”

“Yeah, it was really good.”

“Did you tell him that? In those words?”

Nursey pet the shark plushie anxiously, “Not exactly?”

Chowder sighed. “What did you say?”

“I said it was chill. It was cute.”

Chowder sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Nursey… what’s Dex’s least favorite word?”

“...chill,” Nursey answered quietly, refusing to make eye contact with Chowder.

“And you then called it cute? He probably thinks you hated it. It probably hurt his feelings. It sounds like he wanted you to like it,” Chowder pointed out.

“And I do! I just didn’t know how to say it at that moment. Partly because…”

“Partly because what?”

“Partly because it reminded me so much of the poems I write about him. It reminded me of how I feel about him, and I didn’t know how to say I liked it without saying how I like him.” Nursey fiddled with the sharks fin as he spoke. When he looked up, Chowder gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Maybe that wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world,” Chowder suggested with a shoulder shrug.

“Or maybe it would have,” Nursey countered. “We just started getting along. We’re gonna have to live with each other next year. I can’t mess that up. I can’t let him hate me again.”

“I don’t think that’s gonna be a problem,” Chowder mumbled.

“What?” Nursey tilted his head quizzically.

“Dex wouldn’t tell you about the girl he wrote the song for right?” Chowder asked, expertly deflecting from the question.

“Yeah. He said there was no girl. Which doesn’t make sense, since he’s clearly in love with that person.” Nursey sounded a little bitter to himself, but he hoped Chowder wouldn’t notice. Chowder looked at him expectantly. Nursey jumped as though he’d been shocked.

“Shitty would be so mad at me right now,” he whispered, then turned back to Chowder. “But Dex hasn’t said he’s.. not straight.”

“Should he have to?” Chowder asked.

“Shit, you’re right. So, Dex is in love with a guy-or a non-binary person, that’s also a possibility. A person who people like, who’s really cool and confident, who he’s around all the time, and who feels like home.” Nursey gasped. “Is Dex in love with Bitty?”

Chowder looked at him in disbelief. “I don’t think so. Try again.”

“Who else- Ransom! Dex is in love with Ransom!” Nursey guessed.

“No,” Chowder said flatly. “Were there any other descriptors of the person?”

“Not really… except he said he pretends to hate them,” Nursey remembered.

“Huh. Now who does Dex not get along with?” Chowder said in a voice that sounded like Dora the explorer asking the audience a question. Nursey was silent as it dawned on him.

“Me,” he said quietly. Chowder nodded enthusiastically. He sat stupefied for a moment before standing up.

“Thanks C, I gotta go,” he pushed the shark plushie into Chowder’s arms. “I have a poem I need to finish.”

“Okay! Good luck!” Chowder wished him as he ran out the door.

 

***

 

Dex wouldn’t look at him before or during practice the next day, but Nursey did his best not to mind. He had a plan, and nothing could get in the way of it. Well, nothing except Dex avoiding him. Nursey showered and changed as fast as he could after practice, because it seemed like Dex might be trying to do just that. By the time he finished getting dressed, Dex had already left the locker room. Nursey bolted after him, ignoring everyone’s confused looks. He caught up to him halfway to the dining hall.

“DEX! Hey! Wait up!” Nursey called, jogging to meet him. Dex turned, saw it was him, and rolled his eyes, but he stopped and waited for Nursey to catch up.

“What do you want?” he asked, crossing his arms in front of him.

“You’re the sun,” Nursey started, chest heaving.

“What?” Dex asked, furrowing his brow and letting his arms drop. Nursey grabbed his wrist.

 

“You are the sun.

Your light burns me

Causing me pain that I’ve never felt before.

Pain that I want to hate and despise,

But I can’t, because

 

You are the sun.

Your light warms me

to the bone

Through your laughter and your smile

That is brighter than anything because

 

You are the sun.

Your light spreads itself over everything,

Fixing things, helping things grow,

making it better,

Because you are the sun, and that’s what you do.

 

You are the sun

And I...

I am a tree.

I need your sun like

Fish need water like

Humans need air.

I need your light like

you wouldn’t believe,

but

 

You are the sun,

And you will never need me.”

 

By the end of Nursey’s recitation, Dex’s mouth hung open in shock.

“I know poetry isn’t really your thing, but I just thought…” Nursey trailed off, not sure where he was going. Dex closed his mouth and looked at Nursey sadly. Nursey, his heart breaking from the silence, slowly let go of Dex’s wrist, his fingers trailing down the side of Dex’s hand. He turned to walk away when he felt Dex grab his own hand. Nursey turned back to see Dex looking the most vulnerable he’d ever seen him.

“Do you mean it?” Dex asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“Of course I do,” Nursey told him. Dex looked like he was searching for the words he wanted to say.

“I love your song,” Nursey continued, “it says exactly how I feel about you. I felt like you had found my poems and started singing them. I didn’t know how to tell you that. I was scared of losing you.”

“What changed?” Dex asked, his voice ragged.

“I figured out that I might have a shot, and it was worth taking. If nothing else came from it, at least I could say that I tried.” Nursey decided to leave out the part where Chowder helped him, figuring that would ruin the moment. Dex, in lieu of an answer, surged forward and kissed Nursey on the mouth. Nursey got over his surprise after a second and wrapped his arms around Dex, holding him close. Both were breathing heavily when they broke the kiss.

“I’m really glad I took the shot,” Nursey said with a smile, pressing his forehead against Dex’s.

“Me too,” Dex agreed, leaning in to kiss him again.

 

***

 

A month later Nursey found himself at the coffee-shop-turned-theater once again, waiting for the show to start. He recognized a few people from last time, but stayed in his seat working on a new, much less pining poem. The lights dimmed and people applauded as Dex took the stage.

“Hey guys, thanks for being here,” Dex greeted. “A lot’s changed in the past month for me, and I have a new song for you guys. It’s a little different from my other songs, and that’s ‘cause my boyfriend helped me write it.”

“Whoo!” Nursey shouted, causing a few people to look at him.

“So if you hate it, blame him,” Dex said with a smile, causing people to chuckle.

“Love you too, babe!” Nursey shouted out. More people laughed and looked around to see who had shouted out. Dex leaned into the microphone.

“Derek, sweetheart…. shut the fuck up,” he said with an even bigger smile, causing Nursey to join in the laughing. “Alright, so here goes.”

Dex started strumming in a slow, easygoing tempo, one Nursey was very familiar with but still made him smile every time he heard it.

 

“You’re the moon,

You say I’m the sun.

You’re the moon,

You’re the only one I see.

 

You’re the moon,

You say I’m the sun.

I don’t know if that’s true

But you’re the only one for me.

 

If I’m the sun

And you’re the moon

I’ll chase you for forever

I’ll love you for forever!

 

‘Cause when I meet you at the horizon

When one of us is rising

Together we will shine so bright.

Yeah together we will shine so bright!

And the world will bask

In our light.

 

‘Cause you’re the moon

And if I’m the sun,

I will love you

When our days are done

And to eternity.”

 

Dex sang the whole song with a smile, never taking his eyes off of Nursey. Nursey didn't look away either, because some things are too beautiful to look away from.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I actually wrote notes and chords to the songs I wrote for Dex, because I am a huge nerd. If y'all are interested maybe I'll record them and post them somewhere? Maybe?  
> If you wanna come geek out about Check Please with me you can find me at [heresyourchecksir](heresyourchecksir.tumblr.com)  
> Update: Here are the links to the songs  
> [You're the Moon](http://heresyourchecksir.tumblr.com/post/162329182790/this-is-the-first-song-in-my-fic-killing-me)  
> [Sun and Moon](http://heresyourchecksir.tumblr.com/post/162329220735/this-is-the-second-song-in-my-fic-killing-me)


End file.
